


let's leave (and let's live)

by JustClem



Series: She Lives, and She Lies [3]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-08-19 18:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20214265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustClem/pseuds/JustClem
Summary: Rachel shouldn't be quiet.Chloe shouldn't be calm.A road trip shouldn't be this depressing.





	let's leave (and let's live)

**Author's Note:**

> This is it, folks! The ending to the weird mini-series no one asked for!
> 
> I honestly had a bit too much fun writing this, which is weird considering the bleak tone of this story. I think it's the prospect of Rachel and Chloe learning how to REALLY love each other that makes this enjoyable to write, writing them grow up from idiot teenagers to real adults.

**** Rachel has forgotten how to act, Chloe thinks. Or maybe she just doesn’t bother with it anymore.

She’s quiet these days. The people of Arcadia Bay would’ve laughed. “Rachel Amber? Quiet?” they would say, humor in their tone. “You must be losing your mind.”

And they’d be right. She is losing her mind. She wants to hunt down whoever did this to her angel and murder them. But Rachel won’t speak. She won’t tell her. She’s quiet these days.

Who knew a road trip could be this depressing?

Chloe wants to wish they left at a better note. That it didn’t take all of this to make them leave in the first place. But she doesn’t. Because a part of her hopes that this is what it would take for Rachel to understand that her and everyone’s life are no joke, and she shouldn’t play with them, and actions have consequences.

Does that make her fucked up? Yeah. It does. And she hates herself for it. Almost as much as she hates the fuckers who almost raped Rachel.

…

They no longer sleep apart. They no longer do anything apart. Rachel needs her. Their roles have been reversed. Chloe wants to miss her simpler things were, but she doesn’t, because this, here and now, is living. She’s alive, and Rachel’s alive, and she doesn’t question Rachel’s love anymore. For once, she questions nothing. She’s not stuck anymore. She’s breathing, and she’s moving forward.

…

As Chloe buys the cheapest order on the menu, she starts to think about applying for a job. They’ll run out of money at one point. And by that she the money she stole from her mom and.

Chloe thinks of Joyce. Is she trying to call Chloe still? Or has she realised that Chloe and Rachel have left their phones behind. That they’ve left many things behind. That they want to forget about the town that have taken so many things from them. Things they love. Things that can never return to them - not anymore.

They don’t want to be reminded of that. They want to move forward. So they leave everything behind. 

“Chloe?”

Chloe sits down and gives Rachel her food with a small “yeah?”.

“I think I’ll need a fake ID.” Rachel takes a dainty bite. Chloe chews in a more monstrous bite and slurps her drink with food still in her mouth. “My dad has connections. He has people all over the state looking for a girl named Rachel Amber.”

Joyce would never go that far. She’d call once, twice, and give up with an “oh well” and a shrug before going back to kissing David’s ass. She must be excited, Chloe thinks, to finally be alone with Stepdouche. They’ll be one small, happy family. At long last. 

“So you’ll need a new name.” Chloe slurps off the rest of her drink and burps. She grins at Rachel’s disgust. “What’ll it be? Shelly? Eve? Fucking Victoria?”

Rachel looks at her with a strange glint in her eyes, and a smile with meaning Chloe can’t decipher. Rachel looks at her as though this is more than just fake IDs and fake names. Rachel looks at her as though nothing about this is fake. 

“Price. Rachel Price.”

…

Rachel leans on her shoulder in a near state of unconsciousness, wearing her jacket which makes her look smaller and younger than she has any right to be due to the large size of the fabric. That’s when they arrive.

Chloe thinks this feeling of rush will go away once she finds herself a decent job of being a mechanic. Once they graduate from sleeping in their truck to sleeping in an actual apartment - kind of crampy but decent. Once they turn their apartment into their home. Once Rachel starts studying law because she can’t stand the thought of exposing herself to anyone anymore. 

Maybe then the feeling will go away. Maybe.

Or maybe not.

Maybe she thinks wrong.

Maybe neither of them ever points out why they chose this place rather than anywhere else. Rachel just wants out. Vegas, LA, it doesn’t matter to her anymore. Few things to her matter anymore.

Maybe everytime Chloe leaves for work, she always sees it, the sign that curses her, curses them both, standing proudly and innocently. The sign that confirms it all. That they’re away from Arcadia Bay. The sign that reminds them, again and again, that they’re in Seattle.

**Author's Note:**

> Even though I said this is technically the end, there's still a chance that I'll make a continuation for this. 
> 
> It's fine if I left it this way, but there are still mysteries to this story, questions left unanswered.
> 
> But, like, thanks for reading and stuff!


End file.
